


Remember

by 1V1



Series: Apprentice Antics [1]
Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: Angst, Apprentice is Famale, F/M, Magic, Memory Loss, Rough Sex, Size Difference, Size Kink, Soft Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-29
Updated: 2018-07-29
Packaged: 2019-06-17 22:20:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15471351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1V1/pseuds/1V1
Summary: Muriel and the Apprentice are forced into a dance of remembrance and forgetfulness. Magic is a fickle thing, and while Muriel did what was best, he couldn't make the woman he loved forget him, not entirely. And she refused to forget him either. Now they are stuck, coming together for stolen moments, stolen memories whispered in their ears as they love each other, only to part when the magic returns to fill a man's desperate wish, one he regrets if only because of her.





	Remember

Meeting with Muriel had been a struggle for Ashe. She always was drawn to the woods, against Asra’s insistence to not venture so far, yet the strange lure, that buzz in her head always called out. It was like a siren’s song, making her wonder and yearn to explore what was forbidden. What was deadly an dangerous. Yet each time she ventured in, she found herself on a path that was familiar, wolf prints always fresh and yellow eyes in the distance. The black beast never coming close but guiding her it seemed, to an unknown destination.

But when she reached the home, hidden under a tree and green, she felt at home. Right where she belonged. It was like a fog on her mind lifted, and the familiarity was real. Her memories of details might have left her, but her senses, her feelings had never faded. This place was a sanctuary, it made her heart beat and a sense of warmth rise in her chest. When she’d open the door, a man a good two feet taller, broad shoulders, dress in a cowl of dark fabric and fur of slain wild beasts would turn and look at her with all the hallmarks of a murderer, ready to kill. Yet those eyes would soften just as quickly, and his hand would reach out and in a melancholic knowing he’d just say ‘You didn’t forget everything from last time.’ 

She had forgotten so much, but when she touched his hand, the warmth in her chest had names. Joy, affection, bliss, happiness, and most overwhelming of all? Love. The man before her was the man she loved, yet she’d forgotten him somehow. She remembered fragments. He would pull her into his embrace, inhaling her scent, commenting on her soap and smell. The fresh scent of bread, the incense of the shop, the spiced tea she drank every morning before opening the store with Asra. She wondered is Asra knew this man. He likely did, after all Asra knew just about everyone. But Asra wasn’t with her. Here there was just her and the man who she knew she loved in the past, who’s love she saw in his eyes even now. The man who’s name left her before she knew it was his name.  
“Muriel.” It rolled off her tongue, honey sweet, and he pulled her again into his arms, dwarfing her small frame with his own.

Smoke and rain. Moss and fur. He was the forest given form, a beast given fresh who could rip her apart with his bare hands yet held her so gently like she was made of glass. He kissed her and he tasted like the starch of wild roots, the herbs of the earth, mushrooms- meaty and musky. He was her love, a man who vanished into the dark of her mind each time they parted, yet when she returned she felt herself become more- become whole.

She loved him, for a reason she didn’t know how to explain, only that she knew, just as she knew the cards called to her and spoke of the future. She could feel the cards calling to her, the magic on his skin, his blood- but it was not cruel or harmful. It was the magic of loss, of sorrow. A magic that called to her own, filling it with herself, chasing it away with every touch of her skin on his.

The bed was warm near the fire, soft furs pillowing around her body as they kissed and slowly peeled away each other’s garments. His dark clothes fell to expose thick muscled fresh, scars and coarse body hair that ticked her soft skin. He was every inch a warrior, a hunter- she was a magician. Soft, mailable, flexible. Opposites. She was the city- heatt and spices in her veins controlled by country and decorum. He’s the wild- cool and earthy, untamed and unknown. Yet as her bare skin meets his, the memories of rightness come, and she touches him in a way she know he likes. Lips on his neck, sucking the veins as he groans and grabs her, sitting on the bed and pulling her to his lap so she straddle him.

He is large, massive- uncut and rough yet the smell is clean like rain, musky with his natural manly tang. A scent she knows, a taste she yearns for. Yet as his hands slip down to her folds she keens in want, her breath on his neck warm as his fingers slide in, pushing at her opening, stretching her. She knows she’s not a virgin, that she’s done this before. With other who she loved once perhaps, but none matched him. None made her heart beat so wildly as he did. A finger became two and she cried out his name in pain and pleasure. It had been too long, and she missed him- his touch, his smell, the small smile on his face as she cried out for him, arms on his shoulders to keep herself grounded. 

How did he know her so well? To know the spot just inside her that set her off, a rush of slick coming to aid in his slow ministrations. There was a memory there, an intent in his touch. Something building, something coming that would make her tremble and cry with joy. Unification, belonging. No more burdens of being the magician. The hope for Vesuvia. Here she was just Ashe, and he was Muriel, forgotten by everyone. Lingering only for her.

A third finger made her whimper, falling onto him as he legs shook, his cock pressing it’s need to her belly. He was massive, large, and this was needed. This drawn lusting agony he forced her to endure. Pleasure would come, a fulfillment only he could give her. He would give her. Spit on his fingers, he ran it over her clit, chuckling when she mewled and wiggled her hips, pushing herself closer to her desire, his need.

Hands so large, so deadly and strong lifted her and slowly, he guided her down, Eyes fluttering as she took him, stretched over him until she felt like bursting. Tears at the corners of her eyes she chanted his name in blissful pain. Too large, too perfectly full. He took her entirely, no spot left unfilled and unstated. He gave her everything she needed until he bottomed out, his balls resting against her ass as she obediently sat astride him, giving him control. Panting, her fingers dug into his arms, hips rotating much to his own distress, She adjusted, angled herself until it was perfect. His cock rubbed her walls, his length brushing over the spot that called the stars down from the sky to fill her vision.

Then the wildness in him came, and laid claim to her and all she was.  
Hard thrusts lifted her up only allowing him to guide her back down with the force of gravity, knocking her air from her lungs and a scream of joy from her lips. Over and over, he filled her up, the wet sound of sex and debauchery filling his home, flesh on flesh. Ashe lost herself in his hold, becoming his to use, his to control and dominate and claim. She was the wayward traveler, the wandering magician. He was the hunter, the master of secrets and the mystery of the dark deep wild. She was his prey and he took her as was his victory over her. The victory of her heart and their love.  
Because as he fucked her, hips bruising under his hands, her cunt milking him in desperation, she knew he loved her, would always love her. It was why he remained here for her. Never leaving, never vanishing completely. No matter how much he left behind he couldn’t leave her. She would never leave him. 

Over and over he impaled her, stopping only to spin her around so she took him at her back, the angle reaching a place that made her cry out as she came, yet left him unsatisfied.  
“Reach down.” His voice commanded, guiding a hand between her legs, feeling his length sink into her, stretching her wide as he lifted a leg to sink himself even further into her.  
“We’re together.” He whispered. “We’re one again.” She said his name, leaning to kiss him as she was lifted once more before slammed down, feeling under her hand how he pushed himself deep, filled her to the point of almost pain. Over and over he fucked her, pounded himself into her. On her hands and knees, bent over his bed, laying back as he mounted her like a madman driven by his need for her and her alone.

Again and again she would cry out his name, and he would whisper her’s softly into her ear as he’d find relief. By the time they were spent, her thighs were slick with the evidence of his and her love. Semen dripped from her body, swollen red lips gaped as he left her empty and soothed her body with herbal cream and cool drink.  
Making love- a thing she never remembered doing, yet know she’d only ever done it with him.

“I love you.” Ashe told him, laying in his arms, a small woman in the arms of one who bordered being a giant. “I know you and I love but why-“ she asked him, “-why do I forget you?”  
His look is so full of regret. Melancholy. Love. He chose this horrid suffering for to live and watch over her pained him, yet when the cards fell into place they granted him these moments. These fleeting nights where they could pretend they might have a future had they not made mistakes.  
“A long time ago I hurt many people. I became what I loathed and I couldn’t let you be taken down with me. I couldn’t let him take you from me.” His hands brushed over her cheek, and sorrow welled up. She’d had this conversation before. Not here. In Vesuvia. A long, long time ago.  
“I love you.” He said, pulling her close. “So I left, making them forget me. But I couldn’t leave you. I never wanted to leave you. But- you refused to forget me. You stopped yourself from forgetting me completely. And I stayed. I watch you, I see you and you see me and.. we remember. I remember.” His kiss tastes like the forest. Like home. Like a future dream she might have if only she could stay and never wake.  
“I want to remember.” She says, reaching to touch his face. “I want to stay and know you again but why- why do I forget and leave you? That’s what will happen won’t it?” She knew. She knew in her heart that is what would happen.  
“I’ll wake up, sore, sad, and alone. I’ll go back to the shop and forget you all over again until I get called back.” He nods and holds tight. His lips brush her hair and he sighs.  
“One day, I won’t need this magic. We won’t have to forget to remember.” She cries in his arms, knowing they can’t escape what happens next.  
“I promise. One day, we’ll be free of all this. The curses, the spells, the pain. We’ll be free again. And we’ll be together. We’ll be whole.” Ashe kissed Muriel one more, tears running down her face as she holds him tight. She cries until the tears dry up and sleep takes her.

 

In the morning, sunshine and morning dew fill her senses. The home is warm, the fire but embers. She feels tender, sore, yet content. She can’t stay, though she doesn’t know why. It’s a nice home. Cozy. She likes it. Yet she stayed over night, and she shouldn’t linger in a home that isn’t her own. Leaving, she finds her way back to Vesuvia, to her little shop, to the tea Asra has made in the morning a sly knowing smile at the corners of his lips. She wonders if he knows why she went into the forest in the first place, why she is sore yet happy. What happened and why it feels like she has forgotten something. Something terribly important?  
She doesn’t ask, and Asra just smiles his smile, knowing more no doubt than he’d ever tell.

Outside a window, a man dressed in a dark cloak looks in, his eyes full of longing and love.

He can’t forget her, he won’t forget her. Love is a magic that can trump all others. He know that he loves her, and she loves him still. Eventually, she’ll feel the call of the spell he asked her to help cast those years ago, not telling her what it would mean. Once the count is gone, the plague forgotten, it will be safe again. He can bring her home, love her as she deserves to be loved.  
Until then Muriel smiles at the sight of her, fading back into the crowds of Vesuvia, content to being forgotten until his love can remember him again.


End file.
